Two or three times a year, I start to crave solitude. Away-from-my-home, apart-from-people-I-know, wanting-to-get-lost-in-a-crowd alone time.
These cravings are not spurred by frustration or anger. I am as grateful as ever for my loving family and friends and fabulous job and colleagues. I think it's a matter of delayed sensory overload, or maybe performance exhaustion, the kind Broadway folks get after a hit show runs eight times a week for a year.
My wonderful, fellow Piscean husband gets this. So when I asked for some time alone in a hotel for a birthday gift (again), he not only granted it, he made the reservations. His first inclination was to put me up in a beautiful hotel in the middle of an upscale shopping center nearby, but I knew that locale would only lead to a binge purchase at Barnes and Noble and several other stores.
No, this time I didn't want my weekend sabbatical to be about shopping. It's a "big" birthday, and I have a lot of thinking and writing and reading to do. So I'm not going far--just around the corner from my neighborhood--but distanced enough from laundry piles and dirty dishes and others' comings and goings.
This would-be hermit still wants to celebrate the occasion. Singing "Happy Birthday" to oneself sounds glum, so my family will be joining me for dinner in the middle of my self-imposed retreat. Then it's back to the hotel, alone with my thoughts.
I wonder what my Slices will be like this weekend?
What an awesome idea. I love it. I understand why you asked for this as a present. I think everyone deserves a night in a hotel to think, ruminate, and get ourselves together.
ReplyDeleteAnd he's given me two nights! The last time he gave me this gift, I saved it until summer and stayed out of town, just 45 minutes up the highway. Didn't feel the need to go far this weekend. :-)
DeleteI've done this. I love to hear that you are doing it. People say it's weird but I need it. I am never alone and I need to be. Have a wonderful weekend. Happiest of birthdays. I, for one, am glad you were born.
ReplyDeleteEvery woman I've shared this with has wished for the same, thinks it's a great idea. I'm glad to know you've done it, too! Thank you for the kind birthday wishes to start off my weekend.
DeleteFantastic idea! I've been trying to decide what to do on my big birthday day this month...I joked out loud that I'd like to get away by myself, but I think my family was a little hurt that I wanted alone time without them. I nixed the idea, but it does sound delicious.
ReplyDeleteYou could still ask for it as a gift, and take it later. The first time I did, I waited until summer, and went a bit out of town. It is really rejuvenating, great for creativity!
DeleteVery Nice! It is great to have time to reflect and be quiet! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Joanne! I slept so well last night. Looking forward to the day ahead.
DeleteThis is a genius idea, as my sixth graders would say. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tara! I was inspired by Anne Morrow Lindbergh's book, A Gift from the Sea. Would love to take sabbaticals like she did, oceanside!
DeleteEnjoy yourself. Wondering if you are an only child? (I am) I just flew to Florida by myself and my colleague asked me if I minded traveling alone. I didn't even realize it was out of the norm.
ReplyDeleteNope, not an only child, but the eldest--and a dreamy, introverted Piscean who needs to recharge now and then from my extroverted day job.
DeleteRed Hawk, author of
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Sioux-Dog-Dance-Shunk-poetry/dp/0914946900
anointed me, "She Who Gathers Strength in Solitude" - so you see, we ARE soul sisters, you and me.
Oh, wow....I LOVE that given name! And yes, I think I knew we were kindred spirits from the moment we first met across an ARD table. :-)
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